Myth as a Weapon: Stories and Greatness

picture courtesy of theinsanepen.blogspot.com

Myth as a Weapon: Stories and Greatness

By Dr. Adventure

Stories are one of the most potent motivators of human endeavor.

The stories we hear set the tone of the world around us and the ones we live make us who we are.

They teach us to love, give us reasons to fight and force us to act.

They are all that’s left of us when we're gone and what we live to achieve. Here in this Wild Future, the lines between imagination and history, fiction, truth and lies have begun to blur and unify into the reality of this world of ours.

Almost anyone can talk to the entire planet now, instantly, about the most profound insights or basest lusts. And stories can spread faster than ever.

Its stories that start wars or depose tyrants, stories that keep people scared and huddled around their TV's and stories that drive them to take action. But is a story real?

Does it matter?

Francis Bacon: Figure With Meat

A dream is just as tangible as a memory and a video game is just another part of the world to a 4 year old. Myth is what stories become when they are a part of the reality. Myths live, they breathe and change and grow and die and are reborn.

It doesn’t matter if they really happened or not, that isn't the point. The point is that they encompass all that we have been and strive to become, show us our best and our worst and give us the tools we need to be great or terrible.

The mythic drive towards greatness, might, discovery and wisdom set the bar for human achievement throughout our history. Unfortunately in recent decade the appendages that stories use to spread have become subverted, distorted and fucking boring.

Instead of promoting greatness, the trends towards ignorance and apathy have been reinforced by almost every form of media on earth. Until Very recently. In these first bizarre years of the future, through methods both ancient and modern, greatness has begun to bud again in the world.

Great men and women have begun to act again, casting off the illusions sold to them and making their own. These people do not only talk, they act. They are the grain of truth at the heart of any myth. From their actions, legends grow. From those legends others are inspired to act.

As more and more people become actualized their deeds, legends, and inspirations become alive.

They become like a hurricane of emotion and history and destiny and will. They become part of something bigger than themselves. They become part of that grand immortal Tale, the myth of the World.

Down to brass tacks: How can people use myth as a weapon? My first and simplest advice is to make yourself into what you’ve always wanted to become and be that thing so fucking hard that it becomes real, NOT JUST TO YOU, but to the people around you. This means you’ve gotta be an honest liar, A storyteller. Storytellers use illusions to combat or cast light other illusions, they hint at the truth like a dream hints at your true self.

Here's the rub though, all you’re doing is telling yourself the story of your life. By defining one’s own narrative the curtains start to get pulled back and the rest of the plot and cast come into focus. Only then can the show start.

So, Dream big, live large, and fake it till you make it. Till next time Kiddies, -Dr.Adventure!

Pre-order a copy of The Immanence of Myth, published by Weaponized in July 2011.